Two leading Florida newspapers have condemned the censorship of climate research at NASA, linking it to a larger pattern of deception and lies by the Bush Administration.
The agency’s Inspector General recently released a report saying that Bush political appointees within the Public Affairs Office misled the public for years about NASA’s global warming work. The report followed the publication of Mark Bowen’s book, Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming, that exposed a government-wide effort to suppress climate science research that conflicted with Bush Administration policies.
Our view: Hiding the truth
Florida Today
“When it comes to lies and manipulation the Bush administration is in a league of its own. The most horrendous example is its distortion of the truth in the run up the to Iraq war, but its polices of deceit have infected many other branches of government including NASA.
“In the Bush administration, extreme ideology has always trumped science much to our nation’s great harm.”
Our position: The NASA press office hurt the program when it withheld material on warming
Orlando Sentinel
“The report from NASA’s inspector general blamed the agency’s headquarters press office. It didn’t find evidence that agency leaders or other Bush administration officials were involved. Yet if the manipulation was indeed limited to NASA press officers, they were following the same political playbook as others in the administration — starting with the president — who disputed or ignored evidence of global warming.”
NASA’s Office of Inspector General released a harsh report on Monday saying that political Bush appointees mislead the public about the space agency’s climate change research.
“Our investigation found that during the fall of 2004 through early 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized, or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public through those particular media over which the Office of Public Affairs had control (i.e., news releases and media access),” the report’s executive summary states.
The efforts included rewriting press releases and denying interviews with NASA employees, including climate scientist James Hansen. NASA Public Affairs officials involved denied any wrongdoing, but the OIG found that the evidence supported critics’ charges of censorship.
“We also concluded that the climate change editorial decisions were localized within the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs; we found no credible evidence suggesting that senior NASA or Administration officials directed the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs to minimize information relating to climate change. To the contrary, we found that once NASA leadership within the Office of the Administrator were made aware of the scope of the conflict between the Office of Public Affairs and scientists working on climate change, they aggressively implemented new policies with a view toward improved processes in editorial decision-making relating to scientific public affairs matters,” the report states.
Climate Findings Were Distorted, Probe Finds
Washington Post
NASA’s own watchdog: Agency misled on global warming
Associated Press
NASA Office Is Criticized on Climate Reports
New York Times
I posted the following review in March. I’ve made a change (in italics) in the sixth paragraph concerning Mike Griffin’s role in the controversy. The original piece did not give him full credit for changes he made in NASA’s policies.
I’m currently reading a very interesting book about NASA’s work on climate change. “Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth About Global Warming,” by Mark Bowen, is an eye-opening account of the Bush Administration’s handling of global warming science.
Bowen recounts how that the Administration was determined to distort or censor anything produced by government scientists about global warming that contradicted its official position that more study was required before mandatory carbon caps or other actions could be taken.
Although the book focuses on Dr. James Hansen, a noted climate scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center, the story is much broader. Bowen says this effort was part of a larger, tightly coordinated campaign run out of the White House to censor government climate scientists in NASA, NOAA, EPA and every other agency that deals with climate change. This censorship involved the heavy editing of NASA press releases, the denial of permission to scientists to give interviews to media outlets, threats to people’s jobs, and other coercive measures.
Continue reading ‘Censoring Science at NASA’
I’m currently reading a very interesting book about NASA’s work on climate change. “Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth About Global Warming,” by Mark Bowen, is an eye-opening account of the Bush Administration’s handling of global warming science.
Bowen recounts how that the Administration was determined to distort or censor anything produced by government scientists about global warming that contradicted its official position that more study was required before mandatory carbon caps or other actions could be taken.
Although the book focuses on Dr. James Hansen, a noted climate scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center, the story is much broader. Bowen says this effort was part of a larger, tightly coordinated campaign run out of the White House to censor government climate scientists in NASA, NOAA, EPA and every other agency that deals with climate change. This censorship involved the heavy editing of NASA press releases, the denial of permission to scientists to give interviews to media outlets, threats to people’s jobs, and other coercive measures.
Continue reading ‘Censoring Science at NASA’
